Reliance Industries will invest Rs. 413 Crores into Balaji telefilms. The deal is structured such that Balaji Telefims would issue 2.5 Crore preference shares at Rs. 164 per share. This amounts to 24.9 per cent stake in Balaji telefilms for the most valued conglomerate. The promoter and promoter group shareholding is likely to come down to 32.5% post the share sale.

According to the report, Balaji Telefilms has so far invested close to Rs 40 crore in ALT Balaji. The company had plans to invest a total Rs 150 crore over the next three years to ramp up operations. (Reuters)

Reliance Industries will buy 24.9% stake in Balaji Telefims for an investment of Rs. 413 Crores. Balaji Telefilms will issue 2.5 Crore preference shares at Rs. 164 per share to Reliance Industries. The promoter and promoter group shareholding is likely to come down to 32.5% post the share sale. This move comes after Balaji Telefilms and Reliance were in talks to sell stake of upto 26% in the ALT Balaji Digital Media Entertainment subsidiary, as reported by Bloomberg. According to the report, Balaji Telefilms has so far invested close to Rs 40 crore in ALT Balaji. The company had plans to invest a total Rs 150 crore over the next three years to ramp up operations.

RIL said in a press release, ” RIL is engaged in the telecom, digital and media businesses. This investment in content production ( including digital content) is in line with RIL’s commitment to invest and grow in telecom, digital and media businesses.”

This development assumes importance as Reliance Jio, the 4G entrant, has a digital content ecosystem play. It offers video on demand, Live TV and music stream services to its customers in the country. It recently tied-up with Hotstar. The recently launched Alt Balaji is a subscription video on demand platform, which has crossed over four million downloads globally. The possibilities of this venture look promising, as ALT Balaji continues to increase it’s subscriber base.